Coca-Cola celebrates Earth Day with a ceremonial “green ribbon-cutting” to unveil the installation of five natural gas hydrogen fuel-cell servers at its beverage production facility in American Canyon, Calif. The Coca-Cola Company is a foundation partner with Bloom Energy, a California-based firm that is pioneering fuel cells that can generate electricity from a variety of energy sources, including natural gas. The company has also deployed stationary fuel cells that provide electricity at facilities in Elmsford, N.Y., East Hartford, Conn., and Dinuba, Calif. Additionally, Coca-Cola converted its forklift fleet to hydrogen power at its production and distribution center in San Leandro, California.

(Business News Americas) Investments in Brazil’s steel sector should reach 21bn reais (US $11.2 billion) in 2012-15 or about 4% of the 597bn reais earmarked for the entire industrial sector in the period, according to a study on investment prospects carried out by national development bank BNDES. The figure is 34% lower than what was invested in the sector in 2007-10, according to the study. The steel industry is facing a period of great uncertainty, with significant excess capacity in the world and little prospect of increased demand in the short term. As a result, steelmakers have postponed planned investments. In addition, China’s pace of growth has slowed down and the rising costs of major raw materials used in the sector have greatly reduced steelmakers’ profit margins. To reduce production costs and ease pressure on margins sector companies have been increasing vertical integration and diversifying their activities, BNDES said.

3M ESPE’s Scotchbond Universal Adhesive offers a unique versatility designed to simplify the overall dental bonding procedure. With Scotchbond Universal adhesive, dentists can experience a single-bottle solution for a variety of application methods, delivering high and consistent bond strength compared with other leading adhesives. Combining total-etch and self-etch properties, Scotchbond Universal adhesive can be used on all surfaces, including enamel, dentine, glass ceramic, zirconia, alumina, metals and composites – without additional primer.

Executives from Rubicon Technology Inc., a leading provider of sapphire substrates and products to the LED, RFIC, semiconductor, and optical industries, spoke about the “Move to Larger Diameter Sapphire Substrates” at the Strategies in Light 2012 in Santa Clara, Calif., In order to support mass adoption of solid state lighting, a shift to larger diameter sapphire substrate size must occur. Manufacturing efficiencies and cost reductions inherent in the large diameter platform set the stage for scaling up of the entire LED supply chain to meet the growing demand for LED chips. The representation reviewed why a large diameter wafer is essential to driving down costs and increasing yields to support aggressive cost targets of SSL, and addressed trends that are on the horizon.

Commemorating Earth Day 2012, RAK Ceramics, the world’s ceramic tiles & bathware manufacturing company, organized a tree planting ceremony at its manufacturing facility on April 22nd 2012 as part of its commitment to spread awareness on environmental sustainability and pledging to support a greener planet. During the ceremony, Abdallah Massaad (deputy CEO, RAK Ceramics) planted the first sapling to commemorate Earth Day 2012, which was further followed by RAK Ceramics employees by planting 500 trees. Additional 1,500 trees will be planted during the course of the year. Since 2010, RAK Ceramics has planted 5,000 trees across its manufacturing vicinity and the company commits to plant more than 7,000 trees by the end of year 2012.

A market report released October 2011 provides an overview of the development of the total market and the individual segments. Includes market forecasts for all product segments and regions for the upcoming three years, based on our econometric models. It considers awareness of market position and development during the last two years, in comparison with major competitors and with respect to total market, regional markets, product groups and segments.

BMR, a world leader in end-of-line technologies for ceramic tile production based in Scandiano, Italy, has supplied a second polishing line to the Algerian company C.Gres of Oran. The line, which features the innovative oscillating roller calibrator, joins the Algerian company’s existing equipment supplied by BMR, consisting of a squaring machine, a polishing line and a squaring line, as well as a dry score-and-snap system with a small size rectification machine. The new line marks a major step forward in terms of technology and quality for C.Gres, currently Algeria’s only porcelain tile producer, which in the space of 3 years has completely renovated its plants and adopted all-Italian BMR technology.

Microcertec says it will attend the SMT/HYBRID/PACKAGING exhibition in Nüremberg, Germany, dedicated to electronic components, equipment and process.Microcertec will have on display its ceramic components for the microelectronics industry — electrical insulators, alumina and AlN substrates, heat sinks and solderable and bondable submounts. The 3D interconnect devices will also be highlighted that allows customers to integrate sensors and chips in a ceramic package with electrical functions. Also, the company will exhibit a range of new products and capabilities: customized ceramic-to-metal and glass-to-metal brazed assemblies like hermetic feedthroughs and connectors, microelectronic packages and viewports with optical filters.